Holy Cross To Play #2 Seed Ohio State In NCAA Tourney

Worcester, Mass. -
The Holy Cross women's basketball team will play Ohio State University in next week's NCAA Tournament at College Park, Md. as announced by the Selection Committee Sunday night.

The Crusaders (20-10), who received the 15th seed in the Philadelphia Region will match-up with the second-seeded Buckeyes out of the Big Ten Conference on Sunday, March 20. The two teams will battle it out at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The game will also be televised on ESPN2.

The winner of the Ohio State-Holy Cross contest will meet the winner of the No. 7 Maryland and No. 10 UW-Green Bay game on Tuesday, March 22 at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md.

Holy Cross received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Patriot League championship Wednesday night over Colgate. This will be the 11th all-time NCAA appearance for Holy Cross, and the 10th appearance under head coach Bill Gibbons.

Holy Cross has a 1-9 record in NCAA tournament play, with its only win coming against Maryland (81-74) in the 1991 tournament. HC advanced to the Second Round that year, but fell to third-seeded Auburn, 84-58.

Holy Cross met second-seeded Ohio State in the 1985 NCAA Tournament, in the only meeting between the two teams. Ohio State won that game, 102-60. In 1985, Holy Cross was the seventh of eight seeds in the East Region. The 16 regional seeds began in 1994. That was also the last game of former head coach Togo Palazzi's career, before Gibbons took over in 1985. Since then, Gibbons has led 16 Crusader teams to 20-win seasons, 11 Patriot League regular season titles and 10 Patriot League championship titles.

The No. 2 seeding for Ohio State is the second highest in the program's history. The 1992-93 Final Four team was a No. 1 seed in the tournament. This will be the 14th trip to the NCAA Tournament for Ohio State, which has made the tournament each of the last three seasons. The Buckeyes are 15-13 all-time in the NCAA tournament.

Last season in the Tournament, the sixth-seeded Buckeyes defeated No. 11 West Virginia, 73-67, before suffering a 63-48 loss to No. 3 seed Boston College in the second round.

College of the Holy CrossDepartment of Athletics 1 College Street Worcester, MA 01610